Discuss the importance of the first scene in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

The time is February 15, 44 B.C. It is the Feast of the
Lupercal celebrating fertility.  Roman citizens line the streets for the footrace which
is a part of the festivities.  In addition, Julius Caesar’s victories return from the
battle defeating the sons of Pompey excites the crowd.  In Julius
Caesar by William Shakespeare, the drama duplicates the actual events leading
to the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Recent events
include the murder of Pompey by Caesar’s soldiers and the Pharaoh of Egypt. Pompey was a
part of the triumvirate that ruled Rome along with Caesar.  Pompey and Caesar became
enemies which led to Pompey’s downfall.  Caesar chased Pompey’s sons into Spain,
defeating them as well.  Followers of Pompey resent Caesar’s elevation to supreme status
based on the blood of Pompey.

The first scenes of many
Shakespearean plays serve two purposes.  One is to provide the exposition introducing
main characters, the setting, and the purpose of the play. The second is to provide
humor for the audience.  This would engage the audience through laughter and offer a
contrast to the seriousness of the play. One of the popular humor tactics was the pun,
which is a play on words popular to the Elizabethan
audiences. 

In Act I, Scene I, several craftsmen are in a
street ready to take part in the celebration.  Two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus,
encounter the citizens.  [The tribunes are to protect the rights of the commoners.]
Harshly, Flavius asks one of the workmen why they are out in the street instead of
working.  A cobbler, a maker and mender of shoes, banters with the
Marullus. 

The tribune asks the cobbler what was his
occupation.  The workman uses several puns to answer and irritate the tribune. Marullus
misunderstands the cobbler.  The cobbler tells him that he is a mender of bad soles [a
pun on the word souls] indicating that Marullus is not a pleasant
guy.

The cobbler further insults the tribune by telling him
that he works with a tool called the awl [all].  He does not meddle in the affairs of
workers or women. He is a surgeon to old shoes. When they are in danger, I recover
[re-cover] them.  The cobbler also says that he has the other men out walking around so
that they will wear out their shoes so that he will have more
work.

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Flavius: But wherefore art not in thy shop
today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the
streets? 

Cobbler: Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to
get myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see Caesar and to
rejoice in his triumph. 

The
last statement states the real purpose of the crowd.  Both of the tribunes become
furious when they hear that the workmen hail Caesar. Flavius and Marullus were strong
supporters of Pompey and hate Caesar.  Marullus angrily
responds. 

•  First he points out that
  not too long ago these same men who praise Caesar also applauded Pompey in the streets
  when he returned to Rome.


• Now they praise the man Caesar
  who returns in triumph after defeating Pompey and his sons.
   


• He tells the commoner to return home and pray that no
  plague comes to Rome because of their ingratitude toward
  Pompey.

After the commoners go off
toward their homes, Flavius and Marullus decide to go through the streets and send other
commoners home as well.  In addition, they make a fateful decision to go along the
streets and take the decorations off of the statues of Caesar that were placed there to
honor him.